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2/18/10	Supporting Parents of Young Children in the Child Welfare System This report explores the challenges and opportunities of improving mandated parent training. Drawing on lessons from research and practice it calls on states, courts and communities to use a more intentional, cost effective, and strategic approach to required parent training.
2/17/10	Asset Poverty and Debt Among Families with Children We explore the concept of asset poverty and estimate the proportion of families who are asset poor, then examine debt and financial assets of families with children. The report concludes with policy implications and recommendations to promote financial security of families with children.
1/20/10	Who are America’s Poor Children? The Official Story America’s official poverty measure needs to be updated and improved, but it is still used by researchers, policymakers, and the media to define economic disadvantage. This fact sheet details some of the characteristics of children who are considered poor by the official standard – including their race/ethnicity, parental nativity, and the hardships they face.
1/19/10	Making Work Supports Work A Picture of Low-wage Workers in America This report analyzes the effectiveness of America's “work supports” – such as earned income tax credits, public health insurance, child care assistance and food stamps. Work supports can close the gap between low earnings and basic expenses, but working more does not always pay as families lose eligibility for critical supports. NCCP found that small increases in family income can trigger sharp reductions in benefits, leaving some families no better off – or even worse off.
12/23/09	Child Poverty and Intergenerational Mobility Economic mobility is central to the ideal of the American Dream, but recent research finds that there are limitations.
11/17/09	Basic Facts about Low-Income Children The data for 2008 are in and the numbers tell a troubling story: 44 percent of American children grow up in families that face serious struggles to make ends meet. Parental employment, parental education, family structure and other variables each play an important role in predicting the likelihood that a child will endure economic hardship. We break down the facts and figures into five age groups of children: Under Age 3, Under Age 6, Ages 6 to 11, Ages 12 to 17, and Children Under 18.
11/16/09	Indicators for Social-emotional Development in Early Childhood A Guide for Local Stakeholders Strong evidence links social-emotional health in early childhood to subsequent school success and health in the preteen and teen years, and to long term health and wellbeing in adulthood. Effective programs that address social-emotional health early in life can promote resilience and actually prevent mental health problems later in life. This report gives local stakeholders the information and tools necessary to develop and use indicators for social-emotional development.
10/13/09	Adolescent Violence and Unintentional Injury in the United States Facts for Policymakers Violence and unintentional injury are two of the interrelated areas of vulnerability that adolescents may encounter. This fact sheet illustrates that, combined with problems related to mental health, sexual and reproductive health, substance use, and nutrition and obesity, violence and unintentional injury form part of a complex web of potential challenges to adolescents' health.
9/30/09	Homeless Children and Youth Causes and Consequences The number of homeless families with children has increased in recent years due to the lack of the affordable housing, and compounded by the current economic recession. What are the consequences?
9/2/09	Social-emotional Development in Early Childhood What Every Policymaker Should Know This brief reports the results of a survey on states' efforts to maximize the impact of current policies to provide effective child development and prevention services to young children, especially those at risk of social and emotional delays, and makes recommendations for how to better support children at risk for social and emotional delays going forward.
9/1/09	Promoting Social-emotional Wellbeing in Early Intervention Services A Fifty-state View How have states leveraged different policy choices to support the integration of social-emotional developmental strategies into early intervention services? We look at all 50 states.
6/2/09	Adolescent Mental Health in the United States Facts for Policymakers Mental health and social and emotional wellbeing are key components of any effort to promote adolescents’ healthy development. This fact sheet presents basic facts about adolescent mental health, outlines barriers to ensuring adolescents are mentally healthy, and makes recommendations for eliminating these barriers going forward.
5/6/09	Measuring Poverty in the United States This fact sheet discusses the U.S. government’s outdated method for measuring poverty and points to some alternative ways to more accurately gauge economic hardship.
5/5/09	Making Parents' Health Care a Priority All Americans need access to affordable health insurance. In the public debate, children's coverage has received particular attention and support. But parents’ access to health care is also critical for children's and families' wellbeing. This fact sheet examines gaps in parents’ access to health coverage, looks at the existing patchwork of state policies, and calls for a national approach.
4/20/09	When Tax Day is a Maze of Inequities Moving Toward Fair Tax Policy for Workers and Families Every year at tax time, millions of Americans find that they are excluded from the best and biggest tax benefits – precisely because they have less than their wealthier counterparts. This publication, the first in the NCCP Position Paper series, explains how tax breaks are weighted toward the wealthy, what is being done, and what is still needed to ensure fair tax policy for workers and families.
4/19/09	Basic Facts About Low-Income Adolescents Age 12 to 18 Created to as part of our Basic Facts series, which provides basic demographic profiles for multiple age groups between 0 and 18, our new fact sheet explains the demographics relating to low-income adolescents age 12 to 18. Similar fact sheets are available for children from birth to age 18, birth to age 6, and birth to age 3.
4/18/09	Paid Leave in the States A Critical Support for Low-wage Workers and Their Families Millions of families struggle to juggle work and family responsibilities. Low-wage workers can find this balancing act especially difficult since they are more likely to work in jobs with few benefits and limited flexibility. This brief examines existing state paid leave policies and concludes with recommendations for state policymakers.
4/17/09	Family Resource Simulator Now Available for Ohio The Ohio Family Resource Simulator creates customized graphs that show how family resources and expenses change as earnings increase, taking state and federal public benefits into account. With the addition of Ohio, the Family Resource Simulator is now available for 21 states.
3/5/09	Making Maternal and Child Health Care a Priority To help inform the national and state-level debate on how to improve the health care system, Making Maternal and Child Health Care a Priority takes a closer look at state policy choices that promote access to high-quality health care for mothers and children.
3/4/09	State-based Home Visiting Strengthening Programs Through State Leadership Home visiting for families with young children is a longstanding strategy offering information, guidance, risk assessment, and parenting support interventions at home. This report describes the results of an NCCP survey and a roundtable discussion, each designed to increase knowledge about state-based home visiting programs.
2/18/09	Budgeting for Basic Needs A Struggle for Working Families NCCP's Basic Needs Budgets show the cost of basic day-to-day necessities for families with children. Using examples from these bare-bones budgets, this brief examines the question of how much families need to get by and provides insight into the struggles that working families face.
2/17/09	National Family Economic Security Profile As a companion to our 50-state profiles, the new National Family Economic Security Profile summarizes state policy choices regarding families’ work attachment and advancement, income adequacy, and asset development, and provides national data on low-income families.
2/16/09	Guide to Datasets for Research and Policymaking in Child Care and Early Education This Guide is an annotated bibliography of existing large scale datasets that provide useful information to policymakers, researchers, state administrators, and others in the field of child care and early education.
11/27/08	Low-Income Children in the United States National and State Trend Data, 1997-2007 The number of children living in low-income families has increased since 2000. This updated trend book brings together national and 50-state data on the characteristics of low-income children over the past decade.
11/26/08	New Mexico Family Resource Simulator See how much it takes to make ends meet in New Mexico - and how work supports can help. New Mexico is now among the states included in NCCP’s Family Resource Simulator and Basic Needs Budget Calculator.
11/25/08	The Challenges of Child Care More Help Needed for Houston's Families Child care is one of the largest expenses families face; expanding access to child care assistance is an important step toward making work pay. Read about the need for child care assistance in the Houston fact sheet and the companion fact sheet for San Antonio.
10/9/08	Basic Facts about Low-Income Children The data for 2007 are in and the numbers tell a troubling story: nearly four out of every 10 American children are growing up in families that face serious struggles to make ends meet. We break down the facts and figures into three age groups of children: Birth to 3, Birth to 6 and Birth to 18.
10/9/08	Who are America’s Poor Children? The Official Story America’s official poverty measure needs to be updated and improved, but it is still used by researchers, policymakers, and the media to define economic disadvantage. This fact sheet details some of the characteristics of children who are considered poor by the official standard.
9/30/08	Making Work Pay for Iowa’s Families This report analyzes the effectiveness of Iowa’s “work supports” – such as earned income tax credits, public health insurance, and child care assistance. Work supports can close the gap between low earnings and basic expenses, but working more does not always pay as families lose eligibility for critical supports.
9/2/08	Basic Needs Budget Calculator NCCP's newest web-based tool shows how much a family needs to make ends meet. Basic Needs Budgets are provided for different family sizes and types and are currently available for 70 localities across 11 states.
9/1/08	Present, Engaged, and Accounted For The Critical Importance of Addressing Chronic Absence in the Early Grades This report describes how one in 10 kindergarten and first grade students are chronically absent. Schools and communities working together, however, can significantly reduce chronic early absence by taking comprehensive approaches for ensuring schools and families understand attendance is a key to their children’s future.
8/21/08	Staying Afloat in Tough Times What States Are and Aren't Doing to Promote Family Economic Security This report tracks state-level policies that help families both avoid and cope with economic hardship. Three categories of policies are examined: work attachment and advancement, income adequacy, and asset development and protection.
8/20/08	Demographics of Family, Friend, and Neighbor Child Care in the United States This brief and accompanying literature review point out a need to clarify the definition of FFN care and help us understand its role and impact on the lives of families, children and communities.
6/24/08	Family Resource Simulators for Illinois and Texas The Illinois and Texas Family Resource Simulators have been updated. The Simulator models the impact of federal and state work support policies – such as child care assistance and public health insurance – on the budgets of low- to moderate-income families.
6/23/08	Measuring Poverty in the United States This fact sheet discusses the U.S. government’s outdated method for measuring poverty and points to some alternative ways to more accurately gauge economic hardship.
6/3/08	State Indicators for Early Childhood Short Take No. 7 The seventh Project THRIVE Short Take provides an overview of state-level indicators for early childhood systems, including a review of indicators currently in use and a set of recommended indicators.
5/20/08	Social Inclusion and Respect for Diversity in Early Childhood Building Knowledge and Capacity in the U.S. NCCP’s new initiative examines four strategies to call more attention to social inclusion issues and respect for diversity in early childhood.
5/19/08	New 50-State Profiles on Family Economic Security NCCP’s newest 50-state profiles provide data on low-income children and families in each state and highlight state policy choices regarding families’ work attachment and advancement, income adequacy, and asset development.
4/15/08	Family Resource Simulator for New York The updated New York Family Resource Simulator models the impact of federal and state work support policies—such as child care assistance and public health insurance—on the budgets of low- to moderate-income families.
3/18/08	Family Resource Simulator for Iowa The Iowa Family Resource Simulator models the impact of federal and state work support policies—such as child care assistance and public health insurance—on the budgets of low- to moderate-income families.
3/11/08	Regional Profiles of Early Childhood Policies View regional profiles that integrate early childhood policy and demographic data for the 10 regions defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. These four-page profiles show what states are and are not doing in comparison to neighboring states, and supplement the state-specific and national profiles. The companion User Guide explains the policies that appear in the state, regional, or national early childhood profiles.
2/19/08	Family Resource Simulator for Washington State The Washington State Family Resource Simulator models the impact of federal and state work support policies—such as child care assistance and public health insurance—on the budgets of low- to moderate-income families.
2/19/08	Towards Better Behavioral Health for Children, Youth and their Families Financing that Supports Knowledge This working paper provides a broad overview of funding sources (and their policy roots) that underwrite children’s behavioral health services, illuminating the flaws and prospects of various policy choices.
2/19/08	How Maternal, Family and Cumulative Risk Affect Absenteeism in Early Schooling Facts for Policymakers This fact sheet provides information for policy-makers on how maternal, family and cumulative risk affect absenteeism in early schooling.
2/11/08	Unclaimed Children Revisited The Status of Children's Mental Health Policy in the United States This report documents and assesses the effectiveness of mental health services for children and youth with mental health problems, those at risk, and their families. Our data demonstrate that states are still struggling to deliver adequate care, while federal leadership is lacking. Based on these findings, we propose key policy changes necessary to improving service delivery.
1/31/08	2007 Annual Report Throughout 2007 we significantly increased efforts to advance solutions to strengthen families. Those efforts have generated needed attention for the realities faced by low-income children and families, whether it was within individual state governments or in the national arena.
1/22/08	Reducing Maternal Depression and Its Impact on Young Children Toward a Responsive Early Childhood Policy Framework Poverty – more than any other factor – is a strong indicator of maternal depression. In this brief, we urge America’s lawmakers to incorporate maternal depression prevention and treatment when implementing child-focused policy.
1/21/08	The Influence of Maternal and Family Risk on Chronic Absenteeism in Early Schooling This report shows that maternal and family risks are associated with greater absenteeism and cumulative exposure to risk best predicts chronic absenteeism in early schooling.
11/29/07	Family Resource Simulator for Florida The Florida Family Resource Simulator models the impact of federal and state work support policies—such as child care assistance and public health insurance—on the budgets of low- to moderate-income families.
11/20/07	Who are America’s Poor Children? The Official Story This fact sheet details some of the characteristics of American children considered poor by “official” standards used by researchers, policymakers and the media to define economic disadvantage.
11/1/07	Child Care in Colorado Making Care More Affordable for Working Families Using results from NCCP’s Family Resource Simulator, this report explores the challenge of affording high-quality child care in Colorado and identifies potential policy solutions that would better help the state’s low- to moderate-income workers.
11/1/07	Most Low-Income Parents Are Employed This fact sheet illustrates that despite high levels of employment, average household income has declined and the number of children living in low-income families has continued to rise.
11/1/07	Parents’ Low Education Leads to Low Income, Despite Full-Time Employment Higher education is one of the most effective ways parents can raise their families’ incomes. This fact sheet shows that parents with higher education tend to have higher earnings.
10/29/07	Family Resource Simulator How do work supports impact a family's budget? Use this redesigned tool to create your own, customized graphs that illustrate how family resources and expenses change as earnings increase, taking public benefits into account.
10/11/07	A National Portrait of Chronic Absenteeism in the Early Grades This brief examines the causes and consequences of chronic absenteeism during the early school years. It reveals a significant level of absenteeism in the first few years of school and finds that there are negative consequences for children’s school success.
9/20/07	Basic Facts About Low-Income Children NCCP’s most popular fact sheets, Basic Facts About Low-Income Children, are now updated with the most recent Census data. The fact sheets track children by age: birth to age 18, birth to age 6, and birth to age 3.
9/19/07	Low-Income Children in the United States National and State Trend Data, 1996-2006 This trend book brings together national and 50-state data on the characteristics of low-income children over the past decade and reveals that the number of children living in low-income families has increased by over 1.7 million children since 2000.
9/18/07	Updated 50-State Demographic Information NCCP has updated state and national demographic data on the state profiles and in the 50-State Demographics Wizard.
8/29/07	Family Resource Simulator for California New State Released with Improvements to the Tool The California Family Resource Simulator models the impact of federal and state work support policies—such as child care assistance and public health insurance—on the budgets of low- to moderate-income families.
8/28/07	Local Systems Development Short Take No. 6 The sixth Project THRIVE Short Take explores local systems development, a key strategy for Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems grantees.
7/25/07	Strengthening Policies to Support Children, Youth, and Families Who Experience Trauma This report and companion fact sheet review current policies and practices to support children, youth, and families exposed to trauma and highlight reasons for optimism and concern.
7/24/07	Child and Youth Emergency Mental Health Care A National Problem This brief reviews current practices for children, youth, and adults visiting emergency rooms for mental health conditions, and makes policy recommendations.
7/23/07	Reducing Disparities Beginning in Early Childhood This Short Take from NCCP's Project THRIVE highlights patterns of disparities in risks, access, and outcomes and provides recommendations for reducing disparities in early childhood.
7/22/07	State of the States’ ECCS Initiatives This Project THRIVE Short Take summarizes the results of a review and analysis of state Early Childhood Comprehensive System (ECCS) plans and reports.
6/21/07	Family Resource Simulator for Louisiana NCCP’s Family Resource Simulator is now available for Louisiana. The Simulator shows the impact of federal and state work support benefits—such as earned income tax credits and child care assistance—on the budgets of low- to moderate-income families.
5/15/07	NCCP Has a New Look! NEW!! We’ve redesigned our web site to make it easier for you to find what you need. Check out our topic pages, project descriptions, data tools, and state profiles. To stay informed, sign up for the NCCP Update.
5/15/07	State Early Childhood Policies This report and accompanying 50-state profiles provide detailed information about policy choices states make to promote the healthy development of young children. A national profile is also available, and is included in the Executive Summary.
5/9/07	The New Poverty Wars Debating the Frame(s) NCCP's Deputy Director Nancy K. Cauthen weighs in on recent debates about whether the United States should adopt a national poverty reduction target and how such an agenda might be framed.
5/1/07	Measuring Income and Poverty in the United States This fact sheet discusses how the U.S. measures poverty, why the current measure is inadequate, and what alternative ways exist to measure economic hardship.
5/1/07	Struggling Despite Hard Work Illinois and Chicago As this fact sheet shows, most low-income children in Illinois have employed parents, yet many families do not receive the work supports that can help close the gap between resources and expenses.

In the Spotlight

3/4/10	NCCP in the News The Christian Science Monitor talks about the new Supplemental Poverty Measure.
2/17/10	NCCP welcomes new Health and Mental Health team leader Christel Brellochs.
1/14/10	Mathematics in Early Childhood January 26 Join us for a panel discussion on mathematics in early learning as a national priority.
1/11/10	Modernizing the Poverty Measure Listen to this webinar about developing a new poverty measure in America.
12/21/09	ITO Highlights Update on state policies and young children ITO/Young Children.
9/30/09	Symposium Honors Jane Knitzer A symposium on early childhood health and mental health was held Oct. 2 to honor the life and work of renowned child advocate and researcher Jane Knitzer, who led NCCP from 2004 until shortly before her death in early 2009.
9/10/09	New Census Numbers Out Today: One Third of America’s Poor Are Children
7/30/09	NCCP welcomes early childhood expert Sheila Smith.
7/29/09	How can Washington state reduce child poverty? Washington Kids Count draws on findings from NCCP's Making Work Supports Work project to address this critical question. Read The State of Washington's Children 2008-2009 (PDF)
7/22/09	Minimum Wage The federal minimum wage increased to $7.25 on July 24th. See how your state's minimum wage compares.
6/4/09	New Ways to Help Help us build our online community: join us on Facebook and Twitter!
6/3/09	Remembering Dr. Knitzer
6/2/09	NCCP is Hiring!
5/6/09	May 7 is Children's Mental Health Awareness Day Explore our work on children's mental health. Read about Children's Mental Health Awareness Day Join us in honoring the memory of Dr. Jane Knitzer, leader in children's mental health and director of NCCP from 2004 to 2009.
4/13/09	Remembering Dr. Knitzer Please join us in celebrating the remarkable life of Dr. Jane Knitzer, who led NCCP from 2004 to 2009.
4/12/09	NCCP is Hiring! Learn how you can join our team.
4/7/09	Show Your Support Want to help? Join us on Facebook or make a gift today!
2/12/09	5-Minute Survey If you've already completed our NCCP User Survey, many thanks for this valuable feedback! If you haven't, please take five minutes to complete the survey now.
1/14/09	2009 Annual Fund Please contribute whatever you can to NCCP's 2009 Annual Fund. Your support in these difficult economic times is appreciated!
1/14/09	5-Minute Survey Help us improve our website! Please take 5 minutes of your time to complete the NCCP User Survey.
11/13/08	Children’s Mental Health New findings from NCCP on delivery of children's mental health care were released Nov. 20 at the Carter Center in Atlanta.
9/4/08	Child Poverty Data Up-to-date demographic statistics for low-income and poor children are now available in our State Profiles and the Demographics Wizard.
8/26/08	Child Poverty The U.S. Census Bureau released new data on poverty and income on August 26th. These resources may be helpful for talking about the numbers: Ten Important Questions About Child Poverty and Family Economic Hardship Statement on Establishing a Modern Poverty Measure Demographic State Profiles (check back after Labor Day for the new data!)
7/24/08	Minimum Wage The federal minimum wage increased to $6.55 as of July 24th. See how your state's minimum wage compares.
6/16/08	NCCP on Early Show On June 14th, NCCP’s Nancy K. Cauthen appeared on the CBS ‘Early Show’ to discuss child poverty in America.
5/2/08	NCCP on IPR Listen to NCCP’s Dr. Nancy K. Cauthen on Iowa Public Radio.
4/11/08	Workshops Research Connections is sponsoring two free data training workshops on the campus of the University of Michigan this summer. Learn more and apply.
2/8/08	Healthy children NCCP receives new grant to help children thrive and succeed!
2/8/08	Tax rebates? As concern about the economy grows, check out current policies of state income taxes and credits.
11/29/07	Low-Wage Work Even though average household income has declined, NCCP’s updated fact sheet shows that Most Low-Income Parents Are Employed.
11/1/07	NCCP at APPAM On November 10th, NCCP’s Nancy K. Cauthen and Kinsey Alden Dinan presented at the APPAM Research Conference.
10/9/07	Children’s Mental Health On October 10th, NCCP’s Jane Knitzer and Janice Cooper participated in a Congressional briefing on children’s mental health.
10/3/07	Work Supports On October 2nd, Nancy K. Cauthen, NCCP’s Deputy Director, presented a new report at EPI’s latest event for their Agenda for Shared Prosperity.
9/20/07	Alleviating Poverty On October 2nd, Nancy K. Cauthen, NCCP's Deputy Director, presented at an Economic Policy Institute event for their Agenda for Shared Prosperity.
9/19/07	Children's Health Insurance As the SCHIP debate continues, view current state policy choices on children’s health insurance.
8/28/07	New Poverty Data NCCP expresses concern that the number of children in poverty remains high while even more children lack health insurance.
8/28/07	Measuring Poverty Redux Nancy Cauthen, NCCP's Deputy Director, blogs about measuring poverty in America.
8/13/07	Children’s Cabinet New York Governor Eliot Spitzer appoints Jane Knitzer, NCCP’s Director, to Children's Cabinet Advisory Board.
7/30/07	Measuring Poverty On August 1st, Nancy Cauthen, NCCP's Deputy Director, testified before Congress on measuring poverty in America.
7/20/07	Minimum Wage The federal minimum wage increased to $5.85 an hour on July 24th. Thirty states have a higher minimum wage.
7/19/07	Child Protection On July 26th, Jane Knitzer, NCCP's Director, will participate in a Brookings Institution event on child protection.
7/9/07	Food Stamps As Congress considers changes to the Food Stamp Program, check out NCCP’s state and national food stamp profiles.
6/5/07	Immigration Reform With immigration reform on the national agenda, NCCP encourages policymakers to pay attention to the consequences for children.
5/10/07	Summit on Children On May 22, Director Jane Knitzer presented at the National Summit on America's Children convened by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. See the webcast.
11/30/-1	Poverty Wars Deputy Director, Nancy K. Cauthen, weighs in on recent debates about whether the U.S. should adopt a poverty reduction target and how such an agenda might be framed.